Matching DVD black levels to DV black levels

[sweeppicker]

I searched on the posts and could not find a solution to my problem. I ve never used Avisynth so a little detailed explanation would be great. I'm exporting my .mov Quicktime files from FInal Cut Pro 4 to a PC and encoding in cinemacraft SP with a luma range setting of 0-255. Like every other encoder I've used my dvds come out looking washed out as compared to the edited DV master. Is there a specific script to compensate for this ? I would like my DVDs to have the same black levels and color saturation as my DV masters. If someone could post an exact script that would be awesome. Thanks !

[tedkunich]

http://forum.doom9.org/images/smilies/script-t.gif

What are you viewing the encoded material on, the PC or a TV monitor?


T

[sweeppicker]

Both actually. In comparison to the master it looks washed out,

[tedkunich]

What are you encoding in CCE, the raw avi or the avi frameserved through Avisynth? If it is the latter, please post your script. Also, get GSpot (available here in the download area) to determine the details of your source avi. Post your script and GSpot results and hopefully we'll be able to determine the cause.

T

[sweeppicker]

Sorry to confuse you but actually I ve never used Avisynth nevermind have any scripts. I thought perhaps their was a script made for my problem becuase it happens on all encoders from my experience. I'm feeding CCE raw .MOV file instead of .AVI becuase it is orginating from my MAC. These files are DV sourced material. Regardless, CCE has no problem encoding it. The problem from what I understand is that minidv cams have NTSC setup level of 0 which is used in Japan while in the US we use 7.5 IRE. So basically what I see when I edit on my NLE is not accurate of what I ll see once its burned which supposedly shows the true levels. Ugh. Some people on the mac side use compressor and apply a gamma of 1.1 to compensate but CCE rocks compressors world so I wouldnt want to go there. Thanks.

I'll download GSPOT if this is still the next step required to figure out the cause. Thanks.

[tedkunich]

That changes things. With your current setup, you are at the mercy of whatever codec CCE is using to render your video.

I believe that Quicktime is a flavor of MPEG4 and depending on what codec you have installed, divx and xvid are two of the predominate ones, you may very well get different results. I do not use either so I do not know any of the pitfalls of either.

If you install Avisynth (and VitualDub), there are a couple of things that you can check and tweak as a precursor to encoding. There is no magic bullet script per se as there are too many variables to control. I would involve a bit of trial and error, but it really is not that difficult.

Can Final Cut export as a plain AVI file and in YUY2 color space? If so, that may be the easiest solution, although expensive in terms of file size - CCE should be able to render that without problems. You might need to install a codec for the YUY2 colorspace - my recomendation would by HuffYUV.

T

[trevlac]

@sweeppicker


I kinda responded to this in the other thread where you mentioned it.

As Ted points out, it is hard to give you the answer without knowing what your setup is really doing.

But if you run a known black all the way thru the process, measure it all the way thru, you'll learn a bunch and know what to do.

Thing is, you have to question every piece of hardware and software. Never assume you are getting YUV. You might be getting RGB in a 16-235 range.

Once you know, black and white levels are not to bad to set. More detailed color correction might be harder to make sure it is correct, but I'd imagine with colorbars, you could adjust you NTSC monitor to deal with however your cam outputs the NTSC. The put tape over the knobs. :)